FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Moskowitz
mmoskowitz@adl.org; 404-262-3470
ADL Disappointed That Immigration Politics Scuttled Nomination of First Federal Latino Judge in Georgia
Atlanta, GA, January 21, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed deep disappointment that the federal judicial nomination of State Court Judge Dax Lopez was scuttled by immigration politics and hateful rhetoric. Judge Lopez would have been Georgia’s first federal Latino judge.
Senator David Perdue effectively ended the nomination by declining to support Judge Lopez. According to media reports, opposition to the nomination focused on Judge Lopez’ past affiliation with the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), an organization that supports comprehensive immigration reform and has opposed tougher state immigration laws. Senator Perdue cited this affiliation as one of the reasons for opposing Judge Lopez’ nomination.
Mark Moskowitz, ADL Southeast Regional Director, issued the following statement:
ADL is deeply disappointed that Judge Lopez is being denied an opportunity to serve as a federal district court judge. He is a smart and compassionate lawyer, who has served admirably as State Court Judge. Had he been confirmed by the Senate, Judge Lopez would have served on the federal bench with honor, fairness, conscientiousness and distinction.
We are especially dismayed that Senator Perdue and others may have been influenced by extreme voices in anti-immigrant circles, including D.A. King, founder of the Georgia-based anti-immigrant group Dustan Inman Society. King has a history of making bigoted statements about immigrants and of working with the more extreme elements of the anti-immigrant movement.
For a number of years, King wrote articles for VDARE, a website that publishes racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigrant articles. King also has ties to racist John Tanton, the architect of the modern anti-immigrant movement. In response to the children seeking refuge in the U.S after fleeing from violence in Central America in the summer of 2014, he asserted that the children were “swarming the border and bringing disease.”
We are disappointed that Judge Lopez was not considered based on his qualifications and that Senator Perdue has stopped his nomination.
Additional information about D.A. King can be found on ADL’s web-page about the Dustin Inman Society.
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry. Follow us on Twitter: @ADL_News
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